U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on Wednesday reaffirmed his staunch support for expanding high-speed, fiber-based broadband internet service to all Alabamians.
Yellowhammer News asked Tuberville if he was aware of SB 215, a bill pending in the Alabama Legislature that is entitled the “Connect Alabama Act.” Sponsored by Sen. Del Marsh (R-Anniston), the legislation would create the Alabama Digital Expansion Authority to plan, manage and oversee the expansion and availability of high-speed broadband services throughout the Yellowhammer State.
“Senate Bill 215, I’ve heard of it,” Tuberville remarked in a phone call. “Matter of fact I was in the state Saturday at the Republican Executive Committee meetings — had a lot of people there, talked to some people about it. Talked to Speaker of the House Mac McCutcheon and some other people.”
He underscored that SB 215 “is a state issue,” with Tuberville expressing confidence legislators would ultimately do the right thing on the broadband topic.
“Now, hopefully, with all this money the Democrats are throwing around, if we do use money I would preferably — other than the vaccine and fighting COVID, if we’re doing anything other than that — we have to have broadband in our state,” he added. “We are so far behind. We’re even behind Mississippi; they’re much farther ahead. We have got to get fiber out. We’ve got to get it out to the rural areas.”
“You know, Sean, and you’ve heard me say this, we’ve lost 10 or 12 rural hospitals in the last decade — because they don’t have internet, that’s one of the reasons,” the freshman senator continued. “You can’t have a hospital unless you have strong, fast internet. And then our schools, our kids need it. Everybody says we can have virtual learning; well, you can’t have virtual learning in the rural areas, most of Alabama, because they don’t have fiber, they don’t have broadband.”
Tuberville also spoke generally regarding the state legislature considering new revenue streams for broadband expansion.
“I understand they’re looking at several ways to raise the money for broadband. We have to catch up,” he stressed. “They will make the right decisions in the state. I know our state leaders, I’ve talked to several of them about it, and they’re on top of it. They understand the problem. And as long as we understand the problem, we will find an answer to it. As a senator, if there’s anything federally we can do, we’ll help.”
“They just need the money. And they’re going to have to find the money somewhere,” the Republican concluded.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
